shel

Shel

@shel

The Transsexual Chofetz Chaim

Mutant, librarian, poet, union rabble rouser, dog, Ashkenazi Jewish. Neuroweird, bodyweird, mostly sleepy.

I write about transformative justice, community, love, Judaism, Neurodivergence, mental health, Disability, geography, rivers, labor, and libraries; through poetry, opinionated essays, and short fiction.

I review Schoolhouse Rock! songs at @PropagandaRock

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Eight Black Artists Who've Influenced My Art

It's Black History month, and as the whitest-of-white they-gays to come out of a Pretty Decent^tm art school, I thought I'd share some of the work of Black artists (and their projects) who've made a large impact on my artistic practice. I wanted to include images, discussion, and personal reflections, so if you don't want the director's cut chost, here are the quick links:

Alisha Wormsley || Adrian Piper || Black Quantum Futurism || Joy KMT || Gyxks || Devan Shimoyama || Tulani

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From Hasidic Tales, translated and annotated by R. Rami Shapiro, series editor Andrew Harvey:

When Dov Ber, the Maggid of Mezritch, died, his senior students gathered to share their memories of their teacher. Hours passed, and eventually they fell silent, having exhausted all they could remember.

After a few minutes of silence, Reb Shneur Zalman of Liadi spoke: "Our teacher was a sage of infinite wisdom, but some of his actions can be a bit confusing. For example, we all know that our rebbe used to leave his home at dawn each morning and walk along the lake where the frogs congregate and croak. What I wonder is, do any of you know why he did this?"

The Hasidim looked one to the other, but none spoke.

Reb Shneur Zalman then answered his own question, saying, "This is what I think. We learn from Perek Shirah that when King David finished writing the Book of Psalms he called to God and said, 'Is there any creature who sings more praises to You than I?' Suddenly a frog hopped up in front of him and said, 'What arrogance, even for a king! I for one recite far more songs of praise than you, and each of my songs contains three thousand interpretations! And that is not all. My very life fulfills a mitzvah, for there is a creature that lives on the edge of this pond whose very life depends on eating me. When he is hungry I give myself to him in fulfillment of the verse 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him.'

"Every aspect of creation, from the smallest to the greatest, from the inanimate to the animate, carries a melody into this world and sings it each in its own way. Even frogs have their own song."

He paused to see whether his friends were following him. "Don't you see," he said to them, "this was the reason our rebbe walked to the lake each morning? He went to learn the song of the frog, that he might pray among them."

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Taskmaster US falls apart at the seams, it seems.

This version of the show is insane

If you have not seen this version and are a fan of Taskmaster, it IS kind of fascinating. Myself, my husband Zac, and my friend Shel made an evening out of it. I think I can boil the problems with this show down to "executives meddling with something they don't understand so that it has more Mainstream Appeal to Americans."

Above all else, it is important to understand that the US Adaptation of Taskmaster represents everything wrong with the US television industry.

This version is lazy. Very lazy. Americans should not try and adopt foreign comedy formats, but because The Office was such a hit for NBC, they're going to keep trying to do it.

From a timeline perspective: Taskmaster US aired in April & May of 2018, and UK Season 6 would have started airing right as this version was ending. There are eight 23-minute long episodes. There are significant changes to the format.

I'll put a read more here, in case you would like to subject yourself to this on your own time & come back to this post, OR, in case you simply don't want to know. You should stop reading now if you want to experience this yourself. If you do want to watch this, try and go in knowing as little as possible.

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I had a good time and laughed a lot, primarily because of jokes Ron Funches made. But it also revealed by way of contrast exactly what makes taskmaster work… all the little details that make it congeal… I spent a lot of it speculating on better American comedians or actors to have cast instead of these mostly not even D listers. And better people to have cast as the assistant who would have had a better dynamic with Reggie.

It still feels like taskmaster it just flops and flops… 22 minutes is not enough

 
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